Brydon Carse spoiled the Indian party as he halted KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal from achieving a major milestone at Leeds. After India had got off to a flying start following being sent in to bat first with a 91-run opening stand, Carse came to the party and dismissed Rahul for 42.
While the Indian players were doing well against the English bowlers and their erred overpitch bowling, Carse removed Rahul with a similar harmless ball, full and way outside the off stump. Rahul could not resist and poked at it as Joe Root took an easy catch at slips.
With this dismissal, Rahul and Jaiswal missed out on a major record at Leeds by nine runs. If they had got those nine runs, the duo would have become the first Indian opening pair to hit a century-plus stand at Leeds in Test cricket.
Meanwhile, they had shattered the record for the highest opening partnership by an Indian pair at the venue. The previous highest record for the opening Indian stand at the venue belonged to Gavaskar and Srikkanth, when the duo had put up a stand of 64 in the first innings of the famous 1986 Test that India had won. This is the second opening partnership by an Indian pair of over fifty at the venue.
India were asked to bat first after England captain Ben Stokes had won the toss. "We'll bowl. Headingley is a very good cricket wicket. We've had some really good games here. Want to try and use the early conditions. Been a long time coming, bit strange that this is just the second series, but we're ready. It's been mixed, some lads have played county cricket, and we've had three days of really good cricket. Usual suspects in the top seven, Woakes, Brydon, Bashir, Tongue, and I make up the bowling," England captain Ben Stokes said at the toss.
"Would've bowled first as well, might be a bit tough in the first session, but it should be good to bat on later. The sun is out, should be a good batting deck for us. Preparation has been amazing, we played a practice game in Beckenham, the lads are feeling great. Sai makes his debut, and Karun comes in. Sai will bat at three," India skipper Gill said.